Mirrored Reflections
by Kage NoTenshi
Summary: A different perspective on Bakura's and Ryou's relationship


NOT YAOI! NOT SHOUNEN-AI! NONONONONO!!! *deep breath* Now that I got that out of my system… Sorry, I had a friend that read this in advance and said that's what it sounded like. It's not. The POV is Bakura, then Ryou. But it's angst and _friendship_, people. If you want shounen-ai, go somewhere else. I never write it. 

Disclaimer: I went back in time and bought half the cast off of an Egyptian slave trader. The rest, however, still belong to Kazuki Takahashi.

I have an angel

What does it mean when I hurt you, when I laugh and make you fear me? 

who cannot fly 

or glow.

Can you tell me, innocent Hikari? Can you look upon my tainted, twisted heart and tell me what's wrong? 

His hair is pale and his eyes are dark.

His gentle spirit cries pure innocence.

So many times I let my temper take me over and lashed out at you, either with my tongue or my fists, often both. Whenever anything went wrong, I found a way to blame it on you, and vented my fury accordingly.

The white of his soul is stained;

I marked it with his lifeblood.

I drew clear tears down his cheeks.

So many times I have watched those wide brown eyes fill with glimmering tears, as I made you cringe at my feet. I must be someone even you can hate. But you don't really know me. Nobody does, not even me. Yet, I almost think you see more than I.

He looks at me with fear

sometimes.

Yet always it's diluted

with a sorrowful compassion.

How can you be so perfect, so guiltless? The slightest thing amiss worries you. You're the kind of person who doesn't have to make speeches to show your friendship, you simply declare it in silent actions. I am so tarnished, and being with you only sheds light on my flaws.

When he turns his eyes to me

I feel threatened by such purity.

So I strive to dim that light. Don't you see? It's blinding me; I cannot bear it.

Most of all, I suppose, because I am beyond hope of ever being so pure. I react only as I know how. Through all my last life and this, I destroyed what bothered me.

But I don't really want to hurt you.

But when he weeps

my heart breaks too.

What baffles me most is that you don't retaliate in any way or express any anger. No, what you do is worse. You, in turn, are the only person who cares at all about what happens. When I hurt you, your face becomes sad and nothing more. I can't do anything when your heart suffers like that. 

I can't know why he should care,

when I offer him only pain.

I cannot break your spirit; I'm not sure I even want to any more. I've cracked the carved and painted walls of pharaoh's tombs and smashed the heads of statues. I never thought I would ever find something so perfectly beautiful that I wouldn't be able to shatter it. 

I thought.

He finds a smile when he hurts,

hiding all the agony,

searching for brightness in dark.

I wonder that you can even bear to look upon my face, Hikari. Am I not so ruined that you must turn away?

And I wonder how he sees me

through eyes of innocence.

But I stay in the shadows and painfully envy the brightness I will never achieve, the splendor that shines from your heart.

Because I have an angel.

~

I have an angel.

Why do you hide, Darkness of mine? There is nothing to fear from me; I could never do anything against you. And yet there's something about how you act around me.

He doesn't have wings

or a halo.

His hair isn't blond;

his eyes aren't always gentle.

You frighten me, you know. Like a child, I fear what hurts. Maybe you're right when you snap at me to "grow up." Your cold eyes make me want to flee. I wonder why we, such opposites, were fated to share a body and split a soul.

And sometimes I cry when his soul goes dark

because it pulls me down too.

I wish every night that you could see the way we might be friends. I know we can, you just have to realize it too. There has to be a reason that I ended up with the ring. I'm convinced it didn't come to make me miserable. After all, the way Yuugi got off with his Yami, I'm sure it's possible for us to get along. 

His flaming sword of wrath

is only in his face;

Sometimes it seems like you're trying to prove me wrong. You can be so cold sometimes. Your very expression strikes fear into me when you are angered. It makes me feel unable to help either you or myself.

I tremble when he bares it

because of what he has forgotten.

But you have gentleness inside, I know it. I think it's waiting for you to find it.

He does not remember

quite how to be a guardian

or a messenger of good tidings.

It's hiding; maybe trapped is a better word. Your past gleams through your eyes, and I know it's nothing beautiful. The gentleness is layered beneath that all. I'll help you excavate to find it if you want. Sometimes it's easier to work together.

His brightness is shrouded 

in shadows of pain

and anger

and confusion.

I have to remember that you've suffered too. I don't want to blame you for anything you've done. 

I don't want to hate.

I repeat that silently

when he hurts me.

Maybe you'll realize that someday. It's not too late.

He still shines inside;

I see it through the hardened façade:

You're far from pure evil, no matter how much you say that. There's much more to you than the demonic front almost everyone else sees.

that I have an angel.

Owari

R&R


End file.
